Downing Street has ruled out a whole life sentence for Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, amid growing calls for a rethink of the law after he was handed a 52-year sentence.
Due to his age at the time of the attack, he cannot legally receive a whole life order, meaning a prisoner will never be released. The punishment is reserved for the worst offenders aged 21 and over or, in rare cases, those aged 18 to 20.
Rudakubana received one of the highest minimum custody terms on record for the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class in Southport in July last year when he was 17.
Though he will likely die behind bars, critics have claimed the punishment is not severe enough, calling for a change in the law to allow those who commit serious crimes under the age of 18 to be handed whole life sentences in exceptional cases.
Those calling for the change include former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald, Southport MP Patrick Hurley, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and the victims’ families.
But on Friday, the prime minister’s spokesperson ruled out such a change, saying the government “takes our commitment to international law seriously”.
The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child says governments which have signed it should ensure that “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age”.
The spokesperson said: “First of all, we share the public’s disgust at these barbaric crimes and the desire for this vile offender never to be on our streets again.”
But they added: “We’re restricted in our ability to extend whole life orders to under-18s by UN laws, something that the previous government recognised when it changed the law in this area previously.
“On a specific point on whole life orders, that’s not something we’re looking at.”
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed and harrowing details of the attack were heard at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.
Rudakubana also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
The 18-year-old was not present to hear Mr Justice Goose impose a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years, as the court was told he was likely to be “disruptive”.
Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said the sentence was “not severe enough” and asked the attorney general to review it as “unduly lenient”.
He added: “We need a sentence that represents the severity of this crime that has terrorised the victims and their families.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, backed by shadow home secretary Chris Philp, said there was a strong case for amending the law to allow for whole life orders to be imposed on people aged under 18 in some cases, which the Tories “will start to explore”.
Katie Amess, the daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess, also echoed calls for Rudakubana to receive a whole life order, saying the public should have a guarantee that killers like him will spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Ms Amess – whose father’s murderer, Ali Harbi Ali, did receive a whole life sentence – said this was not good enough.
“There shouldn’t be a likeliness of the man spending the rest of his life in prison, there should be a guarantee that he should never, ever walk free because we can’t have people like that being released,” she said.
“And what kind of message does it send to anybody else that might be thinking of doing something and then not have to spend the rest of their lives in prison?”
Speaking to The Times, she also warned that Prevent – a government scheme designed to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism – is not fit for purpose.
“What happened in Southport is just beyond words, unspeakable evil, and unfortunately we didn’t need to be sitting here today discussing another tragedy,” the actress said.
“Prevent is not fit for purpose. These people were referred several times. It’s members of the public that are referring these people, the public are doing their job. Why are Prevent not doing theirs?”
She said her father’s killer had been taken for a cup of coffee before a government official deemed him not a threat.
“They literally took the man out for a cup of coffee, he said he wasn’t a terrorist, and then they let him go back into the community,” she said.
“Then, due to an admin error, they never followed up with him. They think that is an acceptable answer to me, to say that it’s an admin error and I’ll just move on with my life. But I won’t,” Ms Amess said.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a “thorough review” of the Southport killer’s referrals to the Prevent anti-terror programme “to identify what changes are needed to make sure serious cases are not missed”.
She said reforms will be made to the scheme, including looking at the thresholds used for Prevent referrals to see how violent behaviour can be “urgently” addressed.
Security minister Dan Jarvis said: “Our thoughts continue to be with Sir David Amess’s family and friends. The attack on Sir David was an awful tragedy, the safety of members of parliament is paramount and significant work is being taken forward in response to his tragic killing.”
